Vacuum cleaner



F. A. ENGLISH ET AL VACUUM CLEANER Deco Filed Feb. 14, 23

' tially rectangular shaped Patented Dec. 15,1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IBEDEBICK A. ENGLISH AND EDWARD W WIEHLE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOBS 'IO BIBTMAN ELECTRIC COHPA NY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

' VACUUM CLEANER.

Application flied February 14, 1928. Serial No. 818,985.

To all whom it may concern: 4

Be it known that we, Fnnnnn'rox A. ENGLISH and EDwARoW. WIEHLE, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Vacuum Cleaner, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in vacuum cleaners, and is fully described and explainedin the specification and shown in accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a form of a device embodyin the features of our invention, Fig. 2 is a fi'agmentary bottom plan view, Fig. 3 is a view taken as indicated by line 33 of Fig. 2, Figf'4 is a view taken as indicated by line 4-4' of Fig. 2, Fig. 5, is a perspective view of one of the brush-holders, and Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view showing a modified form of device.

As shown in the drawings, 10 indicates in general the housing of a vacuum cleaner of common form supported b the ordinary two forward wheels 11 and t e single back castor wheel 12. 13 indicates an elongated brush cover or housin which is substantially rectangular 1n form. Within this housing, is arranged the narrower elongated suction nozzle or mouth 14 of the cleaner, which is of ordinary form. The slot-like opening in the nozzle or mouth is shown in bottom plan view in Fig. 2 as indicated by 14.

The suction nozzle 14, is somewhat narrower and somewhat shorter than the brush housuing 13, permittin the arrangement in the brush housing 0% two long brushes 15, one on each side of the nozzle 14. Each brush 15, comprises a tubular member 15, provided throughout its length with downwardly projecting bristles 15", the long brush as a whole being indicated by 15. The two brushes 15, are parallelly arranged, one at each side of the nozzle 14, and supported at. their ends by substanlates 16. Each of the plates 16, is provided with two vertical arallelly arranged slots 17. n

T e two long brushes 15, connected at their ends by plate 16, form a rigid brush mounting or a double brush which is held in place in the brush housing, in the following manner- At each end of the brush housing is provided a brush-holder as shown in Fig. 5. The brush-holder, indicated in general by 25, as shown in Fig. 5, is formed of fiat sheet metal and comprises a substantially rectangular plate 19, having at one end two upwardly projecting arms 20.

21 indicates a lug or pintle enlarged at its outer end as indicated by 22. Such a lug or pintle 21, is provided for each of the arms 20, and they are held in place by machine screws 23, which extend through the end walls of the brush housing 13. The machine screws 23, also pass through holes in the upper ends of the arms 20, and thus serve to hold in place, the brush-holders 25, and the pintles 21.

The plates 19, of the brush-holders 25, are provided with longitudinally centrally arranged groves 19, and these plates therefore serve to extend the mouth of the nozzle 14, at its ends, to the end walls of the brush housing 13;

The slots 17, in plates 16, are of sufficient width to permit free movement of these plates with respect to the pintles 21, and each of these plates 16, is provided on its inner surface with a felt pad 30, held by the rivets 30, to assist in reducing noise caused by movement of the brush. The operation of the device is shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Figure 3 indicates the position of the brushes when the cleaner is motionless.

In Fig. 4, the cleaner is indicated as being moved in the direction shown by the arrow. As soon as such movement takes place, the bristles, 15 of the brush 15, in advance of the nozzle 14, engage with the surface being cleaned, here indicated as the nap 31, of a car et. Such engagement causes a tilt or roc ing of the entire double brush as shown in Fig. 4, with the result that the bristles 15" in advance of the nozzle 14, dig down into the carpet being cleaned, while the bristles 15 following the nozzle are raised out of contact with the carpet. The reverse movement of the cleaner causes a reverse action of the brushes.

It will be seen, that by this construction, the long brush 15, in advance of the suction nozzle 14, engages with the surface being cleaned, whereas the brush 15, following the nozzle is raised out of operative position. This occurs regardless of whether the cleaner is being moved forward or back ward.

It has been found advantageous to have a brush engaging the carpet or other-surface being cleaned, in advance of the'suction nozzle. Such a brush following the suction nozzle is of little or no use.

By the use of this invention, there is always provided such a brush in advance of the nozzle, while the other brush following the nozzle is raised outs of operativeposition, thus rendering the movement of the cleaner easier and saving unnecessary wear on the brushes. The action of the brush in advance of the suction nozzle on a carpet is shown in Fig. 4.

It will be noted that the brush bonds the bristles or nap 31, of the carpet, forwardly as it passes over, and then allows such bristles to snap back into vertical position, thus loosening the dirt and causing some of it to be thrown backward a slight distance into the area of suction of the nozzle 14.

In Fig. 6, we have shown diagrammatically, a modified form of device which serves to illustrate the principles of the invention. In this form of device, the two brushes 115, corresponding with the two brushes 15, of the preferred form, are made separately. The bristles are indicated by 115". Each of the brushes 115, is provided at its ends, with two arms 116, which are pivoted at their ends on the pintles 121, suitably mounted at the ends of the brush housing 113. c I

It will be noted that the arms 116, cause the pivot points to lie to one side of a vertical plane passing through the line of contact between the bristles 115*, and the surface being cleaned. The operation of such a device is as follows The arrow indicates the direction of travel. The bristles 115*, in advance of the suction nozzle 114, engage with the surface being cleaned such as the nap 131, of a carpet. Such engagement causes the arms 116, to rock downwardly, 115 dig into the carpet. The downward movement is limited by stops 200. The bristles 115 following the' nozzle 114, ride lightly over the carpet 131, with slight friction.

In the preferred form of device, the downward rocking of the brush in advance of the nozzle, serves to lift the brush following the nozzle entirely out of contact with the carpet. This is accomplished by joining the two brushes by means of plates 16.

In the modified form, where the brushes are not joined the brush following the nozzle is not lifted out of contact with the carpet, but, (because of the fact that the so that the bristles aeeaew pivot point is substantially to one side of the vertical plane passing throughthe line of contact between the bristlesand the carpet), rides lightly over the surface of the car et.

t is to be noted that the slots 17 in the plate 16, are'of sufficient length to permit wear of the brushes. These slots are long enough to permit the lower ends of the bristles to drop down considerably below the lower edge of the cleaner, so that as the ends of the brushes wear, they will always be allowed to drop low enough to come into contact with the surface being cleaned.

It is to be noted that the suction nozzle 14, lies within the brush housing 13, and

that the lower edges of the brush housing in front and back as indicated by 210, are slightly higher than the lower end of the suction nozzle 14. By means of this construction, the suction produced by the suction nozzle 14, will cause a certain amount of air to flow under the edges 210 of the brush housing and across the lower part of the brush housing in which the brushes lie. This flow of air will obviously pass through the brushes, thus automatically cleaning them.

1V hile we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention, it is to 9 understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims, in which it is our intention to claim all novelty inherent in our invention as broadly as possible in view of the prior art.

What we claim as new and desire to seone behind said suction nozzle, said brushes 1 being joined at their ends to form a rigid double brush, said double brush being pivotally supported on the cleaner.

2. In combination with a vacuum cleaner having an elongated suction nozzle, a pair 1 of long brushes, one arranged in front of, and one behind said suction n'ozzle, said brushes being joined together to form a rigid double brush, and means supporting said double brush for free tilting movement 1 on the cleaner at points above the cleaning edges of the brushes and lying between the vertical planes passing through the lines of contact between the two brushes and the surface being cleaned.

3. In combination with a vacuum cleaner having a suction nozzle, a pair of parallel brushes one arranged in front of and one behind said suction nozzle, means joining said brushes together, and means connect- 13( ing the first mentioned fneans to the cleaner midway between said brushes and above the operative plane of their cleaning edges for free tilting movement.

4. In combination with the suction nozzle of a vacuum cleaner, a brush spaced from the nozzle and ada ted to normally engage the surface being cfeaned, means connecting said brush for free downward movement relatively to said nozzle, said means being rigidly connected with said brush and loosely connected with said nozzle and located above the cleaning surface of the brush whereby movement of the nozzle, with the brush in front of said means and in engagement with the surface being cleaned, will cause the brush to lower with respect to the nozzle. 7

5. In combination with the suction nozzle of a vacuum cleaner, brushes adapted to normally en age the surface being cleaned and arranged on opposite sides of the nozzle, a mounting rigidly connecting the brushes together, coacting means connecting said mounting to said nozzle for free tilting movement of said brushes and located above the operative planes thereof, whereby upon with respect to forward movement of the cleaner the brush in front of saidconnecting means will 'be caused to automatically lower with respect to the nozzle by the contact of said brush with thesurface being cleaned.

16. In combination with the suction nozzle member of a vacuum cleaner, brushes connected with the nozzle member and arranged on opposite sides thereof, a mounting member rigidly connecting the brushes together. one of said members having a plurality of pintles, the other member having a plural= lty of substantially vertical slots enlarged said pintles, and in which the pintles' are disposed, whereby either brush is capable of free downward move ment and whereby upon movement of the nozzle, the advancing brush, by engagement with the surface being cleaned, will be caused to automatically tilt and lower with respect to the nozzle;

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 6th day of February, 1923.

FREDERICK A. ENGLISH. 1,. 8.] EDWARD W. WIEHLE. [LBJ 

